What’s a Conservative Christian to do on Election Day?

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Christians in this election are getting a bad rep. We’re constantly accused of searching for a perfect candidate – being too self-righteous to vote for anything less. The reality is, as a Christian, I know unless it’s Christ 2016, we aren’t getting a perfect candidate – and I’m okay with that. There are, however, a lot of things I’m not okay with – dishonesty, adultery, etc. These are sins. Thanks to God’s grace all of us can be forgiven for these sins if we repent and ask for forgiveness.

We can all agree with have two flawed candidates – we always have, and always will. Both candidates have disturbing things in their pasts – you might even say either of them could be a modern day King David.

Let’s start with King David. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve heard a lot of talk about King David – and how God used him, a man full of sin (specifically murder and adultery) to lead a country. The story of King David is an inspiring one. Many claim it alludes to the fact that Donald Trump, despite his public flaws, could be used by God to lead our country. I guess that’s supposed to make those of us who are uneasy about voting for Donald Trump feel better about it. But there are a few parts of the story that are being left out.

First of all, both Donald Trump AND Hillary Clinton are flawed candidates – full of sin, just like all of us. Many would argue that Donald Trump’s words don’t come close to the corrupted actions of Hillary Clinton – as Christians, we know it’s all sin. You can’t make the King David case for Donald Trump, without making it for Hillary Clinton. That’s right – God uses imperfect men people all the time, so he could use either of these candidates to lead the country in the right direction, God’s miracles make it possible. That’s part of what makes Him so great.

The bad news is He cannot use an unwilling candidate. The detail that continues to be left out of this King David comparison is in 2 Samuel 12:13 when David says “I have sinned against the Lord.” You see, David repents. He repents and recommits himself to God to do his work. David is nothing alone – it’s God who is changing the country and the world through him. King David is not perfect, but he recognizes the need to repent to God when he has sinned and turns from darkness into the light.

It’s not my place to judge where any candidate is in their walk with Christ, all I can do is go by public statements of faith. Donald Trump doesn’t believe he needs to ask for forgiveness and Hillary Clinton, who doesn’t support a platform I would vote for anyway, is usually silent on faith, with the exception of an Iowa campaign event.

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So should we stay home in protest of these two awful candidates? Absolutely not. If we aren’t confident in either of the two party candidates for president, we need to make sure we vote in conservative Christian candidates down the ballot. We need to have that solid foundation in Congress and our state and local governments now more than ever.

What are we supposed to do with our vote for president? Many of us are completely against Hillary Clinton, disgusted with the email scandal and her corruption. Unfortunately we’re equally as concerned about Donald Trump in other ways. We’re also worried about the future of the Supreme Court and want to make sure we support the Republican Party platform – after all, of the two parties, it’s the most conservative. Donald Trump represents that platform and is the lesser of two evils – so even though we have concerns about him, we should set them aside and vote for him, right? Wrong.

Regardless of who sits in the White House, as Christians, we know there is a higher King in control. When the people of God start voting like they belong to the Kingdom of God, evil loses. Faith Trumps Fear explains it perfectly. There are legitimate ballot eligible third party candidates who better represent the values of conservative Christians in all 50 states – candidates who don’t require you to separate conscience from platform (find them at Faith Trumps Fear). We need to vote for them. Maybe it’s not about a strategy for winning the White House in 2016 – rather trusting the big man upstairs, staying committed to your values by not compromising, and sending a message to these two parties with your vote.

Take a moment and think about how awful it is that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the best candidates for president that America has. It’s pathetic and heart breaking. Don’t settle. When we settle in our voting, or fail to vote, we are prolonging the system and are ignoring the opportunity to support conservative Christian candidates in the name of the “chances of winning.”

Guess what.

There are just over 324 million of us in the United States and just over 146 million of us are registered to vote. Out of that 146 million, only about 14 million voted for Trump and just shy of 17 million voted for Clinton. That means there are approximately 115 million of us, or 78% of registered voters, that didn’t vote for either of them. Think about the impact we could make in this election.